


An Unexpected Visitor

by ChristineThalassinou1990



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types
Genre: Caring Bilbo Baggins, Friendship, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Poor Elrond, Post-Hobbit, The Author Might Be A Bit Obsessed With Elrond's Hair, The Author Regrets Nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:27:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28036911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChristineThalassinou1990/pseuds/ChristineThalassinou1990
Summary: On his way back home from a visit to Círdan, a brutal storm hits poor Elrond. Fortunately for him, Hobbiton is not too far, and there lives a friendly hobbit...Takes place not much after the story of The Hobbit.
Relationships: Bilbo Baggins & Elrond Peredhel
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	An Unexpected Visitor

The bell rang; and it reminded Bilbo Baggins of a hauntingly similar evening from years ago, with the sole exception of the brutal storm raging out there at the moment. He couldn't even imagine who was stupid enough to be outside in such a weather, and more importantly, who was stupid enough to come and disturb him. But since he was a respectable, well-mannered hobbit, he did get up and walked to his door, ready to send the absolutely unexpected visitor to somewhere else; in the most polite way possible, of course.

So, Bilbo opened his door, instantly shivering in the cold wind that hit him. However, his visitor undoubtedly felt much, much worse; as far as Bilbo could tell from his height, he was a human, wrapping his soaking wet cloak around himself in a miserable attempt for protection, and the hood hid his face in shadows. The hobbit had no idea who this could be.

"Um, excuse me, sir, but I don't exactly understand why..." he began, but in that moment, his visitor pushed back the hood, revealing his face.

He wasn't a human but an elf; an elf Bilbo did know.

"May I come in, please?" a soaked to the bone, shivering Elrond asked with a quite desperate expression.

Bilbo swallowed the million questions rushing to the tip of his tongue and stepped aside.

"Of course, of course. Hurry, before you catch a cold!"

_Well, he most probably already did_ , the hobbit thought, watching as the elf stumbled inside and looked around. He had to move carefully if he didn't want to hit his head into the low ceiling in every other minute.

"Leave your clothes by the fireplace and clean up a bit, okay? I'll prepare some tea for you" Bilbo said, giving the elf a few towels and showing him the right directions in his hobbit-hole.

Elrond smiled at him gratefully and did as he was told.

Half an hour later, he, too, was sitting on the floor by the fireplace, wrapped in the biggest, warmest blanket his hobbit friend could find and cuddling a mug of hot camomile tea.

"Are you hungry?" Bilbo asked, but the elf just shook his head. "Right. Anyway, what are you doing here, if I may ask? Don't get me wrong, but elves are extremely rare in the Shire" the hobbit added, sitting down in one of the comfortable armchairs and facing his unexpected guest.

Elrond looked up, pushing his still slightly damp hair behind his ear; it was completely loose now, a gorgeous waterfall of silky darkness, even in its current state. Elf hair was a curious thing, it seemed.

"I was visiting a friend not far from here, and on the way back home, this awful storm hit me. At first, I didn't really know what to do, but then I remembered that you mentioned living here. I wasn't that far from Hobbiton, I already saw the lights... so I thought I'd try and find shelter here" Elrond explained. "Thank you for letting me in" he added with a smile.

"Don't mention it" Bilbo smiled back. "You're welcome here. However, I need to be honest: I have no idea where you could sleep. You're a bit... too tall" he admitted, and Elrond snorted, almost choking on his tea.

"I'll be fine here if you can give me a pillow. I've slept in much, much worse places than this. At least here I'm warm and dry" the elf grinned.

"Alright, then" the hobbit nodded, getting a few pillows for Elrond. "Breakfast is at nine o'clock. Good night!"

"You, too" Elrond said, and with this, Bilbo left for his own bedroom to retreat for the night.

The elf finished his tea and got as comfortable as he could on the floor. He thought it would be harder but he was asleep in a few minutes.

*

Next morning, when Bilbo got up to prepare breakfast, he found Elrond still sleeping, curled up into a ball and hugging one of the pillows lovingly, as if the poor thing was his teddy bear. The hobbit decided to let him, continuing his way to the kitchen with silent steps; however, he couldn't stop grinning at that sight.

About an hour later, Elrond began waking up, sitting up slowly and looking around, still holding the pillow in his arms. He looked a bit sleepy and had a pretty gorgeous bed hair.

"Good morning!" Bilbo grinned at him, handing him a plate full of food.

Elrond couldn't eat right upon waking, but he took the plate nonetheless, thinking that he'd just wait some, perhaps conversing with Bilbo in the meantime.

"Slept well?" the hobbit asked, settling in his armchair again and sipping a cup of tea.

"Yes, thank you. It wasn't that bad at all."

Elrond felt some stiffness in his back, but there was no point in mentioning it to Bilbo. He'd be fine in a few hours.

When he was finished with eating, he tried to regulate his hair to look at least remotely like an elf's, but he quickly gave up and just pulled it back into a messy ponytail.

"May I use your bathroom before I leave?" he asked.

"Feel free" Bilbo nodded, and Elrond retreated to the aforementioned place to clean up a bit and to make another attempt with his hair, just to realize that he was way too lazy for that now. So the ponytail remained, only a bit more groomed this time.

Half an hour later, he was ready to continue his way back to Rivendell. Bilbo gave him a few apples for the journey and escorted him to the edge of Hobbiton. The other hobbits were staring at them with open disbelief, but not one of them was brave enough to stop them and ask questions; Bilbo was quite happy about that. He wasn't in the mood to deal with his neighbours right now.

"Well, take care and travel safe" Bilbo said as a farewell. "And if you ever again end up in such a situation nearby, know that you're welcome at Bag End anytime."

"Thank you" Elrond smiled at him, and to Bilbo's surprise, the elf crouched and hugged him quickly. "I'll keep it in mind."

Before Bilbo could've returned the gesture, the elf stood up again, and after a last friendly wave of his hand he turned and left the little town. Bilbo looked after him for a while then returned to his comfortable hobbit-hole with a content smile on his face.


End file.
